Reviews
The Best Women's Travel Writing, Volume 11: True Stories from Around the World by Lavinia Spalding
gabbypip26's review
5.0
One of my absolute favorite books and this is saying a lot because non-fiction is something that I read to learn not to necessarily enjoy. Each story was unique but the way they were put together was really well designed.
Each true story shows a glimpse into the writer's travel adventure but the best part is that it's usually not some grand thing that happened but the small details that made the most impact from the country they were visiting or living in.
Heartbreaking, joyful, hilarious, and shocking, you will feel all this while you are immersed in these women's stories.
Each true story shows a glimpse into the writer's travel adventure but the best part is that it's usually not some grand thing that happened but the small details that made the most impact from the country they were visiting or living in.
Heartbreaking, joyful, hilarious, and shocking, you will feel all this while you are immersed in these women's stories.
_zora_'s review
4.0
This might seem like a self-serving review, because an essay of mine is in the book. But I am sincerely blown away by all the amazing stories in here. A whole range of voices, experiences and tones. Some of the simplest stories--such as a woman in Japan going to celebrate her birthday alone, and a woman dealing with her father's death while she's in Hawaii--have stuck with me. Then again, some of the more outlandish are standouts too--now I know what it might be like to play pro basketball in the Czech Republic!
balancinghistorybooks's review
4.0
The Best Women's Travel Writing, Volume 11 felt like a fantastic choice to read on holiday; I did so whilst sheltering in a hotel room in Miami from Hurricane Irma, in fact. Lavinia Spalding has already edited several of the volumes in the Best Women's Travel Writing collection, and the eleventh is the most recent.
In her introduction, Spalding comes up with the following, and rather lovely, allegory. During the editing process of the book, she 'came to the conclusion that to be good travelers, we must embody the qualities of water: its beauty, strength, mutability, fluidity, and determination. We need its capacity to ebb and flow; to permeate the most hidden and unreachable places; to soften and smooth what it moves against; to carve a path through seemingly impenetrable obstacles; to change form, and allow itself to be changed.'
The women featured in this collection, who have travelled all over the world for many different reasons, write about a lot of places which I have personally been to, and many more which are destinations on my future travel list (which is, frankly, enormous). They use travel as a means of escape, or a means of belonging; of finding themselves, or of knowing themselves better. They travel for work, for love, or for pleasure. What was great about making my way through the chosen essays here is that they have all been randomly ordered; thus, you can flit from one continent to another, and then back again in the space of three entries. Some of the destinations are repeated, as one might expect with such a collection, but every story feels fresh and new regardless.
The Best Women's Travel Writing, Volume 11 is both fascinating and current. Zora O'Neill's essay, 'On the Migrant Trail', for instance, describes her choosing at random the same journey from Turkey to Greece that 'hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan' take. There is a wonderful honesty which shines through in many of these meaningful essays, and every single author shows just how rewarding having a sense of adventure and a valid passport can be.
In her introduction, Spalding comes up with the following, and rather lovely, allegory. During the editing process of the book, she 'came to the conclusion that to be good travelers, we must embody the qualities of water: its beauty, strength, mutability, fluidity, and determination. We need its capacity to ebb and flow; to permeate the most hidden and unreachable places; to soften and smooth what it moves against; to carve a path through seemingly impenetrable obstacles; to change form, and allow itself to be changed.'
The women featured in this collection, who have travelled all over the world for many different reasons, write about a lot of places which I have personally been to, and many more which are destinations on my future travel list (which is, frankly, enormous). They use travel as a means of escape, or a means of belonging; of finding themselves, or of knowing themselves better. They travel for work, for love, or for pleasure. What was great about making my way through the chosen essays here is that they have all been randomly ordered; thus, you can flit from one continent to another, and then back again in the space of three entries. Some of the destinations are repeated, as one might expect with such a collection, but every story feels fresh and new regardless.
The Best Women's Travel Writing, Volume 11 is both fascinating and current. Zora O'Neill's essay, 'On the Migrant Trail', for instance, describes her choosing at random the same journey from Turkey to Greece that 'hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan' take. There is a wonderful honesty which shines through in many of these meaningful essays, and every single author shows just how rewarding having a sense of adventure and a valid passport can be.
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